The Hero and the Princess
by CatClouds
Summary: Malty/Mein's plan to set up the Shield Hero as a scapegoat in the Church's conspiracy to usurp her mother and sister runs into some complications. *Rating is M just in case, but it's not that bad.


The plan Malty, her father and the Church of the Tree Heroes had devised was not very complicated. She was supposed to frame the Shield Hero for raping her and continue to further antagonize him turning him into a scapegoat for every misfortune that would happen during the Calamity Waves. Then they would frame for kidnapping her sister Melty and kill them both so she could take her rightful place as the crown princess (not that her father knew about that last part.) The Shield Hero would've already been met with contempt because of his predecessors' affection for demi-humans. The plan was simple and to the point. There wasn't a lot of things that could go wrong. It was almost guaranteed to work. . . and yet.

No, no, no, no. How could this had happened? It's not like I could frame another woman of raping me, no one will take it seriously, if anything I might just become a laughing stock. Not unless I was ten years younger. Summoning a female Heroes is so rare I don't even know if it's even ever happened before. Her father shot her a confused look, and she struggled not to go over to his throne and smack him across his face. Idiot, someone might've seen that we can't afford for anything else to go wrong. Fine, I'll just go along with this, and figure something else later.

As rehearsed, she went to the Spear Hero's side and volunteered to become the Shield Hero's companion when, predictably, no one else did. The look on her the hero's face was one full of hope. It was so innocent and tender that Malty only wanted to crush the young hero that much more.

* * *

Originally Malty wasn't supposed to form a party with the Shield Hero, only pretend to, since they would've strung their trap the very next day. However, since there was no telling how long she will have to pretend to be the hero's ally she was forced to set up a proper companionship by the menus, so the two were now sharing EXP.

Malty played her part well. She acted like the ideal companion to this poor girl who way out of her dept. She joked and laughed and teased as if they were old friends. Made herself as friendly and approachable as possible. She never deviated from her carefully crafted persona, not even when all she wanted to do was take a hold of Nanami and shake her while screaming right in her stupid face about how frustratingly naive she was being.

Nanami was far too charitable and sympathetic. During the first Wave they had participated in Nanami had abandoned her fellow Heroes and instead helped evacuate the nearby village that was being overrun by monsters. It was pointless, the other three Legendary Heroes had defeated in only a couple and hours and the army had arrived only an hour after the wave started. The demons wouldn't have gotten further than that one village.

And honestly who even cares about a bunch of dirty peasants? They should be happy to be used as a buffer (meat shields) for the demons, most of them wouldn't ever amount to anything more than that anyways.

While the other three Heroes and their parties had been showered with praise from the nobility during the celebratory banquet all they had to show for their effort was being thanked by a bunch of dirty, smelly, unsophisticated wastes of space. Malty had resisted the urge to kick them away every time one had the audacity to touch her. The smell and ugly sobbing only made it worse. That night the princess had washed her hands raw.

When she discovered she had an affinity for creating healing potions Nanami had decided to just give them away to the commoners. She only ever sold anything to the wealthy, and then used that money to further help those disgusting parasites, even when Malty had informed her that most of them were probably not even from their country. The other girl had the nerve to respond with: "well neither am I", as if it made a difference. Nanami was a Legendary Hero, not a deadbeat. She was beautiful and charming, not smelly and gross.

When she found out that, while technically illegal, slavery was still prevalent in their country (even in the capital), and only got worse after the first wave had decimated a lot of villages in the outskirts the idiot had decided to make it her mission to actively fight against slavery wherever she could. And Malty, like a fool, had gone along with her.

It didn't take long for Nanami to notice that all the slaves they had freed were demi-humans. When Malty and explained to her their country's disdain for demi-humans Nanami's drive towards their mission only increased, and she swore she would do everything she could to improve the lives of all demi-humans in this country.

I should've expected as much from a Shield Hero. Really it was my fault for getting her so worked about it.

A few of the slaves they had freed were children who had been left orphaned and had no extended family to reach out to. Nanami, not seeing another choice, had adopted the little brats. She even bought a house in the village they had saved during the second Wave (the very village she had so gracefully sunk a large portion of their funds to rebuild).

There were six of them in total, and Malty couldn't stand a single one for more than a couple of minutes at a time. They were too needy. Most nights they would crawl into either of their beds since both princess and Hero shared a room, but slept in separate beds.

At least Malty had used them as an excuse to buy a larger bed, and then again to share said bed with Nanami. Too bad most of the time their nights were ruined by the little imps.

* * *

After the third Wave had come and gone their standing with the nobility and populace at large. All across the world word had spread of the noble Shield Hero who helped the poor and downtrodden. The same Hero who had bought against slavery and bandits, but expanded a helping hand wherever she could. The same Hero who (sometimes literally)cleaned up the messes the other idiot Heroes had left behind. The same Hero who had almost single-handedly defeated the Third Wave's boss after the other three tremendously failed to do so.

Now that I think of it Nanami was much stronger than the other Legendary Heroes. Even I have gotten much stronger in these past months than I ever could've. At this point, I might even be stronger than any of the other three Heroes. Even that raccoon brat that keeps coming with us was probably stronger than most of the other Heroes' companions.

When it had come time to attend the banquet that was made in honor of the Legendary Heroes' victory Nanami had, against all reason, brought the demi-human brats with them.

They had been quite the sight, the princess incognito with the Shield Hero, whose victory this banquet belong to almost exclusively, had come along with their loud and disgusting demi-human children. The king almost had a heart attack.

Malty played along with their little charade. She was good at it.

f anything at least I learned that night that the Spear Hero was a pedophile. What a disgusting man, and to think I almost paired up with him. The only thing he has going for him is his pretty face, and even Nanami had him beat in that.

* * *

Malty was used to twisting men around her little finger and destroying them, but the thought of doing it doing it to this girl (this honest, naive, trusting girl) filled her gleeful anticipation. She wanted nothing more than to see Nanami's pretty face and smile contort into pure rage and disgust directed at her. She wanted nothing more than to see those bright wide eyes tainted with cynicism. She wanted to see this cheerful girl, who has no right being this innocent, become a pathetic shell of her former self. She wanted nothing more than to mold this idealistic Hero, the first female Legendary Hero to be summoned in what must've been hundreds of years, into her plaything.

And I know **exactly** where to start.

* * *

After having seen the smoke in the distance Nanami had rushed towards their home, their village, with Mein and Raphtalia close behind. Once they had reached the outskirts of the village the three were almost out of breath. The sight that greeted them would hunt Nanami and Raphtalia for the rest of their lives.

Impaled on large pikes where the flayed corpses of the children Nanami had come to think as her own, and sitting front of them were their skins.

The Shield Hero let out a terrifying, almost inhuman, scream filled with agony and grief. Mein, who had arrived second let out her own cry as tears started to fall down her face and embraced the other girl. Raphtalia who had come in last was frozen in place upon seeing the sight as images of her dead parents and tortured friends flashed before her eyes.

Both the Shield Hero and young child were too preoccupied with their own grief to notice the ugly grin that had formed on the princess's face.

Finally, those little brats were good for something. As a bonus, I can even use that fat count as a scapegoat in the future.

* * *

AN: Malty/Mein is NOT a good person, but I have a thing for writing twisted "ugly on the inside" types. I also like writing self-destructive, twisted and poisonous relationships.

Nanami got to experience the bliss of the fantasy life longer than Naofumi, but in the end, she can't escape suffering as long as Malty/Mein exist. And Malty's affection for Nanami might be even worse than her disdain for Naofumi.

Also, Raphtalia doesn't age when she levels up here, and her relationship with Nanami will never go beyond platonic. I thought of killing her off with the other kids but decided against it in case I ever feel like adding a sequel to this.


End file.
